


Friends and Family

by Sarren



Category: Bedrooms and Hallways (1998)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-23
Updated: 2008-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:09:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1633205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarren/pseuds/Sarren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends and Family

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Zebra363 for betaing!
> 
> Written for Linaerys

 

 

_"The giving of a ring signifies the promise of a love that is everlasting and is a public affirmation that the contract between you will be honoured."_

The celebrant is looking at me pointedly. Oh shit, where's the ring? I know I put it in this pock- oh here it is. I hold it up triumphantly.

Oh, it's not me getting married, if that's what you're thinking, though I will admit to a stray fantasy or two since I got roped into helping with the wedding.

It's Darren and Jeremy, if you can believe it. No one saw that coming, I can tell you. Who'd have thought those two would be the first in line to sign up when the law changed? But then, no one believed they'd last this long anyway. There was this thing I don't want to go into... Anyway, Jeremy had a scare, nearly lost Darren, and it made him realise that he loved him enough to fight to keep him. Look at them. I think Darren's actually _glowing_. Jeremy looks a bit like he might faint, actually.

_"I give this ring as a symbol of our civil partnership and as a lasting reminder of the vows we have made this day..."_

That's Jeremy's family over there on the left, the ones that look like they've been sucking on lemons all day. At least they're here though. Darren told me Jeremy was terrified they'd never speak to him again when he came out to them. But he did it for Darren. Just goes to show, you never can tell. Some of Jeremy's real estate colleagues are sitting behind them. I'm not sure Jeremy has `friends' as such.

There's Angie and Adam, on our side. I'm not surprised they've lasted. They're two of the most genuine people I know. I'm damn lucky to have them as friends. And yes, that is Brendan and Sally sitting next to them, or not so much Brendan and Sally as, there's Brendan, and then there's Sally, because _that_ never stops being complicated.

I'd liked to have been able to blame Brendan when it all went pear-shaped back then, but he'd told me straight up that he wasn't looking for a relationship. It might have been nicer if he'd told me that before we slept together, though. Would it have changed things? Probably not. I fancied him like mad - I mean, _look_ at him. Would you turn that down?

Some bloke once said: "Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about." Sally and I been friends forever - it was stupid to try and make it anything else. It didn't have a hope of working out, but all the old feelings for her had resurfaced and got mixed up with my feelings for Brendan and my guilt and confusion about our odd little ménage à trois... anyway, she forgave me. Again.

So that should have been the end of it, right, with us going our separate ways and getting on with our lives. Only it didn't turn out that way.

**************************************************************************************************

It wasn't _that_ unusual to be woken by insistent knocking on the door in the early hours of the morning. To be honest, both Angie and Darren were a bit flaky - most likely one of them had forgotten to take their keys with them again. 

Brendan was about the last person I expected to see when I looked through the peephole. I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my pyjamas and opened the door. "Brendan, what-?"

"I'm not going to Thailand," he announced, just like that.

I don't know what response he was expecting. "Aren't you?" I managed, bewildered. 

"Can I come in?"

"Brendan, it's two am in the morning."

"I slept with Terry."

Despite the fact that I'd kind of assumed as much, and told myself over and over that it was none of my business, that we were never serious, despite that, actually hearing him say it hurt. 

"Thanks for telling me," I said, and I didn't try very hard to hide the bitterness. Why should I? 

"I didn't like it."

"What?" I said, despite myself.

"Look, can I come in? I'm freezing my balls off out here."

 _Good_ , I thought, but I didn't mean it. Brendan was huddled miserably into his jacket, the same jacket I used to wear because it smelled like him, because wearing his clothes made me feel like we had a real relationship. There were snowflakes on his shoulders, and sprinkled in his dark hair. Brendan really was a beautiful man, but it was the shadows under his eyes, the woebegone expression that made me open my door wider and take a step back.

He slipped past me quickly as though he thought I might change my mind and waited while I locked the door and turned around. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, shivering, clearly not making any assumptions. Good.

"Do you want a coffee?" I said, mostly because I could use one. It was too early in the morning for this, especially since he'd woken me from a very nice sex dream, thank you, where Brendan was a Roman general and I was his body slave. There was a bath involved, and massage oils. That's what you get for reading a book about Ancient Rome before bed. Though Brendan did look fabulous in the toga.

"That'd be good, thanks," Brendan said.

What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. I forced my thoughts back to the present. To Brendan, sowing his wild gay oats.

I waited until we were seated across the table from each other, cradling cups of hot coffee. Brendan seemed to have nothing to say, now that I was ready to listen.

"Why are you here?" I said finally. I wondered why he wasn't at home with Sally, having his crisis at her. 

Brendan stared into his coffee as though it contained the meaning of life. "I'm sorry," he said. His voice was husky. I ignored the shiver of arousal it caused me.

I blinked. "What are you sorry for?"

"I thought..." Brendan stared at his coffee some more. I sipped mine and waited.

"It's all been so crazy, you know?" he said finally, in a rush. "Sally and I were breaking up, and then I met you, and you fancied me, and I found that - attractive - found _you_ attractive, and it was like my world just changed and I thought it would be easy, that I was okay with it. And then you made me _feel_ things but thought I could handle it, keep it casual, but then you involved Sally and it got complicated and I didn't deal with it very well. I'm sorry I hurt you." 

"You're sorry you hurt me," I repeated, trying to process everything.

"Yes." 

Brendan looked sincere, earnest even, but I was confused. 

"You're sorry you hurt me," I said slowly, "so you thought you'd come over in the middle of the night to tell me you slept with Terry. Just so we're clear."

"Yes." Brendan said. "No!" he said, hurriedly. "My _point_ is, it wasn't the same. I didn't like it."

"Terry's just inexperienced," I pointed out. "I'm sure with practice, you'll work it out." What the hell was I doing? Maybe I'm a masochist.

"I don't want to `practice' with Terry, or anyone else. I thought I had something to prove. Well, I proved that it's only you that I want."

I tried to control the leap of hope in my chest. So much for being over Brendan. "What about Sally?" I asked. "Are you still living with her?" So help him, if Brendan played coy with me about this again, I was not going to forgive him.

"Leo, I promise you, Sally and I have worked things out. We're just friends now." Brendan reached across the table and took my hand. I let him. Even then, just the touch of him and my body reacted, craving more of him.

I believed him because I wanted to. I took him to bed. Brendan was intense, urgent, hands shaking as he touched me over and over as though he couldn't ever get enough. He watched me pour lube into my hand with eyes black with need, but when I reached behind me he grabbed my wrist, too tightly. I looked at him, shocked. 

"Please, Leo," Brendan said, begging. He pulled his knees back to his chest, exposing himself to me utterly. My mouth went dry. We'd never done it like this before. Brendan's desperation and lack of control reminded me of our first time. After that once he'd always seemed to hold a piece of himself apart, not letting himself get too involved, I guess. That space was gone now and it was all new again and I felt something fierce and possessive rise in me. I wanted to claim him. I wanted to make him never want anyone else again. I think Brendan saw that in my eyes. "Leo," he said, and "yes," and I fell forward onto him, sinking into him over and over as he clutched me and we swore and cried and came together. 

When we came back to ourselves, panting and sweaty and come streaked, Brendan started to laugh. "What?" I said, prepared to be indignant.

"I didn't know you were such a wild man," he gasped.

"Yes, well, you better get used to it," I growled, putting on my sternest, manliest expression.

Brendan laughed harder.

"Grrr," I said, and pounced on him.

**************************************************************************************************

The band is playing Aerosmith's `Don't Wanna Miss A Thing'. I am sitting alone and palely loitering at the head table. Everyone else is either dancing, or smoking, or chatting each other up. I reach for the wine bottle, watching Darren and Jeremy sway to the music. Darren's head is resting on Jeremy's chest. Their eyes are closed.

"I half expected them to have ducked out for a quickie by now," an amused voice like a dark powerful river says. I turn to see Brendan smiling down at me.

"It's true what they say, then," I say with a straight face. "Marriage really does change people."

"So it would seem."

"They look happy."

"That they do." 

We smile at each other.

Brendan rubs the side of his nose like he does when he's uncertain about something. I wait for him to tell me what's bothering him.

"Do you want to dance?" he finally says, abruptly.

He's surprised me. "Are you sure?" I ask. It's not like people don't know we're together. He makes sure of that. He's unembarrassed about warning guys away from me. I suppose I should be horrified, but mostly I like it. I like that he still feels possessive of me after all this time. Of what we have. But dancing together? Apart from the sex, obviously, Brendan's the most straight-acting guy I know.

"Leo," Brendan says, exasperatedly, fondly. He holds out his hand.

I take it, and he leads me to the dance floor. Over his shoulder I see Sally chatting to Keith and Sybil. She smiles at me and raises her glass. Angie and Adam slow dance past us, staring into each other's eyes. 

"What are you thinking about?" Brendan murmurs.

I smile at him. "Family," I say.

 


End file.
